Cleaning wheel wells

[Sprzout]

I just cleaned my dad's F150 today, and when I was done, I noticed that there was a lot of gunk & buildup in the wheel wells (not just the undercoating spray, but also dirt, tar, road grime, etc). I'd hosed it off initially with pressure from the hose, but it didn't seem to cut it, and I didn't really want to get in there and scrub it with my lambswool mitt...

So, that got me to thinking:

How do you clean wheel wells? What's your technique to clean it off, and what tools/sponges/etc. do you use to clean it?

[3Fitty]

Re: Cleaning wheel wells

First, I rinse the wheel down with my soap dispensing gun. Next, I use a flexible (and fairly long) brush I bought at Autozone to get through the wheel ant into the whell. The bristles on the brush seem to strike a good balance between being gentle enough on the wheel, yet sturdy enough to clean the well. It allows me to get into little cracks and crevices that I otherwise could not get into.

Because it is so flexible, I can even get in the area behind the caliper (without moving the wheel). I tried to find a picture of the brush but a can't.

For drying, I usually go at the wheels with my leaf blower as getting in the wells with a drying towel is darn near impossible.

I also recently painted my calipers so it allowed me to remove my wheels and give them a really good washing and waxing.

[Derrick]

Re: Cleaning wheel wells

I do a quick spray down of the area to get off any large particles then i follow up with some super degreaser or my orange powered degreaser and let it sit for about 20 seconds and then agitate with a good long brush like the blue one in the picture below. This will get off all the gunk and build up. Sometimes there is staining on the plastic in the wheel wells so even after cleaning they tend to look dirty so i hit the wheel wells with some tire foam and it comes out great

The blue brush in this pic is exactly like the one i use for wheel wells. Can be found at Walmart for about 3 dollars. I have one for the engine bay and one for wheel wells.

[3Fitty]

Re: Cleaning wheel wells

Derrick,

How do you get into the wells with that brush? It seems awfully big to get into the well, or do you get under the car?

This is similar to the brush I use...

[Derrick]

Re: Cleaning wheel wells

Derrick,

How do you get into the wells with that brush? It seems awfully big to get into the well, or do you get under the car?

This is similar to the brush I use...

Depending on the car, obviously if its a truck or SUV the wheel wells are easy to reach but if its on smaller vehicle then i will bring the brush up from the bottom kind of squeezing it in there and work it that way. I bring it up from the bottom so the bristles don't get pushed against the paint when getting it to fit in between the tire and wheel well and it also adds to the scrubbing power when i do so because you have to press hard against the wheel well just to get the thing to fit between the tire and wheel well. If the tire is to close and i cant get it to fit at all or think it is to small and i will have to push to hard to get it to fit then i also have a brush like yours that i use in those situations. The only reason i don't use that one often is because it tends to be to flexible and i cant get alot of scrubbing power when working on bad wheel wells
Oh i forgot to add that i do get under the car on some vehicles that require it or remove the wheels all together but i try and stay away from that because you can damage and scrape things to easily. Especially when working on expensive rims where even the bolts are a high shine chrome so you really don't want to take a tire iron to it if you don't have to

[Bunky]

Re: Cleaning wheel wells

The blue brush in this pic is exactly like the one i use for wheel wells. Can be found at Walmart for about 3 dollars. I have one for the engine bay and one for wheel wells.

I have the blue brush as you show but the bristles are not stiff and does not seem to clean dirty wheel wells for me. I have been using a much stiffer brush (sold by Clorox for scrubbing toilets, etc) but it still takes work. There has to be a good combination of spraying, soaking with the right cleaners, and scrubbing. I have used APC (another brand) but it did not seem to improve things that much.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Cleaning wheel wells

A toilet brush works great for this - long handle, perfectly sized brush head, medium stiff bristles. Spray some APC up into the wheel wells, give 'em a quick scrub, rinse.

Don't use the toilet brush on your wheels though!

[Mr Mustang]

Re: Cleaning wheel wells

^haha, that's good

[Jeepster04]

Re: Cleaning wheel wells

I spray a little APC if its needed but its usually not since I keep them clean. After that I just use a regular bucket of of water with Megs DC soap and a really old sponge.

[Sprzout]

Re: Cleaning wheel wells

Cool! I've got several brushes that my dad bought for his truck, way back when we didn't know any better that they'd instill scratches on the paint when they got dirty...They look almost identical to the blue brush of Derrick's, so I may just have to try that along with some Simple Green (since I don't have any Meg's APC at the moment, and the PBE store takes a week or two to get it) and see if I can get it clean.

[LimeStang]

Re: Cleaning wheel wells

It's easier to just turn the wheels left or right when trying to clean behind them. I normally hose it down and scrub them down with an old brush. The I wipe it down with a rag.